Burgundy is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The capital, Dijon, was wealthy and powerful, being a major European centre of art and science, and of Western Monasticism. In early Modern Europe, Burgundy was a focal point of courtly culture that set the fashion for European royal houses and their court. The Duchy of Burgundy was a key in the transformation of the Middle Ages toward early modern Europe.
Charles I, nicknamed the Bold, was Duke of Burgundy from 1467 to 1477.
Jean-François Marmontel was a French historian, writer and a member of the Encyclopédistes movement.
Joan, often called Joan of Constantinople, ruled as Countess of Flanders and Hainaut from 1205 until her death. She was the elder daughter of Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders and Hainaut, and Marie of Champagne.
Michel Corrette was a French composer, organist and author of musical method books.
Marie de Gournay was a French writer, who wrote a novel and a number of other literary compositions, including The Equality of Men and Women and The Ladies' Grievance. She insisted that women should be educated. Gournay was also an editor and commentator of Michel de Montaigne. After Montaigne's death, Gournay edited and published his Essays.
Georges Chastellain, Burgundian chronicler and poet, was a native of Aalst in Flanders. Chastellain's historical works are valuable for the accurate information they contain. As a poet he was famous among his contemporaries. He was the great master of the school of grands rhétoriqueurs, whose principal characteristics were fondness for the most artificial forms and a profusion of Latinisms and graecisms.
The Alexander Romance is an account of the life and exploits of Alexander the Great. Although constructed around a historical core, the romance is mostly fictional. It was widely copied and translated, accruing various legends and fantastical elements at different stages. The original version was composed in Ancient Greek some time before 338 CE, when a Latin translation was made, although the exact date is unknown. Several late manuscripts attribute the work to Alexander's court historian Callisthenes, but Callisthenes died before Alexander and therefore could not have written a full account of his life. The unknown author is still sometimes known as Pseudo-Callisthenes.
Bavay is a commune in the Nord department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. The town was the seat of the former canton of Bavay.
Le Quesnoy is a commune and small town in the east of the Nord department of northern France. It was part of the historical province of French Hainaut. It is known for its fortifications, dating from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. It had an significant shoemaking industry before the late 1940s, followed by a chemical factory and dairy, giving way to its weekly market, tourism, local commuting to elsewhere such as Valenciennes and local shops.
Philippe Jaccottet was a Swiss Francophone poet and translator.
Michel de Marolles, known as the abbé de Marolles, was a French churchman and translator, known for his collection of old master prints. He became a monk in 1610 and later was Abbot of Villeloin (1626–1674). He was the author of many translations of Latin poets and was part of many salons, notably that of Madeleine de Scudéry. He is best known for having collected 123,000 prints - this acquisition is considered the foundation of the cabinet of prints in the royal library, though it was only constituted as a department in 1720.
Jean II de Croÿ was Count of Chimay and progenitor of the line of Croÿ-Solre. Jean belonged to the powerful House of Croÿ.
Gayant is a processional giant that symbolizes the city of Douai. It is carried through the city for three days each year at the beginning of July as part of an eponymous festival alongside its "wife", Marie Cagenon, and their three "children", Jacquot, Fillon, and Binbin. The family arrives at the belfry at Douai on the final Sunday of the festival, which culminates with Le Grand Cortège in the afternoon.
Pierre Desrey de Troyes was a French chronicler, historian, genealogist and translator. Relatively little is known of his life, but his work is of value to historians.
Margaret of Clermont was a countess consort of Flanders twice by marriage to Charles I, Count of Flanders and Thierry, Count of Flanders. She was ruling suo jure countess regnant of Amiens 1118–1132.
The Chronicles of Hainaut is an illuminated manuscript in three volumes, tracing the history of the county of Hainaut up to the end of the 14th century. Its text was produced around 1446-1450 by Jean Wauquelin as a French translation of Annales historiae illustrium principum Hannoniæ, a three-volume Latin work produced by Jacques de Guise around 1390-1396. It was made for Philip the Good of Burgundy and is now in the Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels.
The siege of Cambrai was undertaken by an English army led by King Edward III of England during September and October 1339 in the early stage of the Hundred Years War. At the time Cambrai, located in the Nord department of the Hauts-de-France region in France, was not part of France but a Free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire.
Charles I de Montmorency was a 14th-century French noble.
The Burgundian State is a concept coined by historians to describe the vast complex of territories that is also referred to as Valois Burgundy.
Jean Wauquelin presenting his Livre des conquestes et faits d'Alexandre le Grand to Philip the Good.
Alexander the Great conquering the air. Jean Wauquelin, Les faits et conquêtes d'Alexandre le Grand, Flanders, 1448–1449.
Alexander building a wall to enclose the people of "Gog and Magog", from Wauquelin's story of Alexander.
Battle between Alexander and Porus.
